FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • FrIday, aprIL 16, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
NFL
Seahawks sign DE
Aldon Smith
SEATTLE — Aldon
Smith is back in the NFC
West, this time with the
team he spent the early
part of the decade tor-
menting — the Seattle
Seahawks.
The Seahawks on
Thursday announced
they had signed Smith,
a former All-Pro with the
49ers. Terms of the deal
were not disclosed but
the NFL Network reported
it will be for one year.
The signing came after
Smith, 31, had an official
visit with the Seahawks
on Wednesday.
Smith spent the 2020
season with the Dallas
Cowboys, his first season
since being reinstated
from a four-year suspen-
sion for various substance
abuse-related issues.
Among them: an arrest
for DUI and hit-and-run in
2015 that prompted his
release from the San Fran-
cisco 49ers and brought
to a screeching halt a
career that began with
Smith considered one of
the best pass rushers in
the NFL.
A 2011 first-round pick
out of Missouri, Smith was
an All-Pro with the 49ers
in 2012 when he had a
career-high 19.5 sacks in
helping lead San Fran-
cisco to the Super Bowl.
He had 14 as a rookie in
2011 and then 8.5 more
in 11 games in 2013, post-
ing 42 sacks overall in 43
games from 2011-13.
With the Cowboys
last season, Smith had
five sacks in 16 games.
Three of those sacks came
against the Seahawks in
Seattle in Week 3.
Smith now adds to
a Seattle edge-rushing
group that includes re-
cently re-signed Carlos
Dunlap and Benson
Mayowa, and second-year
players Darrell Taylor and
Alton Robinson.
— The Seattle Times
MEN’S COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
PREP GIRLS GOLF
A change
in approach
Ridgeview’s Dietz finds groove as
Summit’s Garcia wins opening tourney
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
REDMOND —
A
sophomore member of the Ridgeview
girls golf team that finished fourth
at the 5A state tournament in 2019,
Logan Dietz has a new perspective on golf
during her senior year.
And the new outlook has turned her into a
better golfer.
As a young high school golfer, the primary
goal was scoring as low as possible. But
once the COVID-19 pandemic hit — which
resulted in a canceled 2020 season and a 2021
season that is limited to regional play without
a state tournament — simply enjoying the
game and soaking in the memories of her
final high school season became the main
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
focuses.
Ridgeview’s Logan Dietz attempts a putt at the 11th green while playing at The Greens at Redmond on Wednesday.
“Sophomore year I was all about getting my score
as low as possible,” said Dietz. “It wasn’t really to
have fun and enjoy it, it was more doing what I had
to get done. This year it is more having fun and the
results are what I want them to be.”
The change in the approach has not gone unno-
ticed by Ridgeview coach Guy Millington, who has
seen Dietz blossom from a talented freshman into
one of the leaders of the team.
“When we had our spring season canceled she
was a true leader,” Millington added. “She is the one
texting to make sure to get to the golf course, what
do we need to practice. She has been nothing but
positive this past year with golf.”
The Ridgeview coach knew that they were getting
a golfer with skill, as Dietz’s father Steve is the men’s
club champion at Juniper Golf Course. The father
and daughter have been playing in tournaments to-
gether throughout the past year.
Over the past year, Millington has noticed a golfer
who is much more at ease, even after a bad shot. For
some golfers, one bad shot or a bad hole can lead to
another one … and another one … and another.
That was a problem that Dietz once had, her coach
said, but now she is able to move on from a bad shot.
“She has totally taken a 180 to her approach of
the game,” said Millington. “She is enjoying it rather
than worrying about it. She is relaxed when she is
out there.”
See Golf / B4
USC avoids major
NCAA penalties
LOS ANGELES — The
NCAA hit Southern Cali-
fornia’s men’s basketball
program with two years’
probation on Thursday
because a former assis-
tant coach violated NCAA
ethics rules when he ac-
cepted a bribe to steer
players to a business man-
agement company.
The Division I Com-
mittee on Infractions an-
nounced the penalties,
which include a $5,000
fine and a 1% loss of the
private school’s basketball
budget. The probation,
which does not include a
postseason ban, runs until
April 14, 2023.
Tony Bland, the former
associate head coach un-
der coach Andy Enfield,
wasn’t mentioned by
name in the NCAA re-
port. He was arrested by
FBI agents in September
2017. USC fired Bland four
months later. He pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to
commit bribery in January
2019 and cooperated with
the NCAA’s investigation.
As part of his plea deal
with federal prosecutors,
Bland acknowledged ac-
cepting a $4,100 bribe
during a July 2017 meet-
ing with financial advisers
and business managers
in exchange for directing
players to retain their ser-
vices when they entered
the pro ranks. He received
two years’ probation.
USC is the fourth school
involved in the federal in-
vestigation of conspiracy
and bribery in college bas-
ketball to be punished by
the NCAA.
— Associated Press
MLS | SEASON PREVIEW
NBA
Season starts with hopes of normalcy
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Don Ryan/AP file
Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, left, maneuvers against Toronto’s Amir
Johnson during a game in Portland in 2014. Aldridge announced his
sudden retirement on Thursday.
Former Blazers standout
LaMarcus Aldridge retires
BY JOE FREEMAN
The Oregonian
LaMarcus Aldridge left the
NBA on Thursday the same
way he left the Portland Trail
Blazers six years ago.
With a surreal and stunning
tweet.
The man who patrolled
power forward for the Blaz-
ers for nine years announced
he was retiring after a distin-
guished career that included
seven All-Star berths, five All-
NBA selections and 19,951
points. Aldridge, who has
played throughout his career
with Wolff-Parkinson-White
Syndrome, a heart disorder,
said it was an irregular heart-
beat that led to his abrupt re-
tirement.
“My last game, I played
while dealing with an irregular
heartbeat,” Aldridge said in a
statement on Twitter. “Later on
that night, my rhythm got even
worse which really worried me
even more.
“Though I’m better now,
what I felt with my heart that
night was still one of the scar-
iest things I’ve experienced.
With that being said, I’ve made
the difficult decision to retire
from the NBA. For 15 years,
I’ve put basketball first, and
now, it is time to put my health
and family first.”
See Aldridge / B4
Major League Soccer em-
barks on the 2021 season
with a new labor agreement
in hand, the return of two big
stars, a new team in Austin,
Texas, and lessons learned
from 2020.
There still won’t be full
crowds in most places but
there are reasons to be opti-
mistic for the league’s 26th
season as more Americans get
vaccinated against the coro-
navirus.
The league was two games
into the season last March
when the COVID-19 pan-
demic shut down sports in the
United States. Play resumed
in the summer with the MLS
is Back tournament in a bub-
ble in Florida before an ab-
breviated season held in local
markets. The Columbus Crew
emerged as the MLS Cup
champions.
MLS estimated losses at
nearly $1 billion last season,
mostly the result of playing in
empty stadiums and charter
flights for teams.
While that will likely im-
prove, the league is expecting
another financial hit. As a re-
sult, MLS invoked the force
majeure clause in the collec-
tive bargaining agreement last
year.
After a rather contentious
back-and-forth — the players
had already agreed to conces-
sions in 2020 — a new agree-
ment was struck in February
that will run through the 2027
season.
The season kicks off Friday
night with a pair of games:
San Jose at Houston and Min-
nesota at Seattle. The league’s
newest team, Austin FC, will
play its inaugural game Sat-
urday against LAFC in Los
Angeles.
“MLS has always been
about momentum,” Com-
missioner Don Garber said.
“More teams, more stadiums,
more fans, more players and
players that are representing
all the exciting activity that
takes place on the field. We
had the momentum going
into last year, and then clearly
that got put on pause a bit
with with the pandemic. Now
that momentum has kicked
back in.”
Stars return
It appears two of the
league’s top stars, LAFC’s Car-
los Vela and Atlanta’s Josef
Martinez, will be back.
Vela, who had an MLS-re-
cord 34 goals in 2019, missed
the MLS is Back tournament
because of his wife’s preg-
nancy and the birth of their
child. Then he was hampered
by injuries and appeared in
only eight regular-season
games.
Martinez was knocked out
of last year’s season opener
with an ACL injury that re-
quired multiple surgeries.
He’s not quite at full strength
heading into United’s opener,
but close.
“Day-by-day, I am stronger.
Obviously not 100%, because
I think I’ll get there once I
start playing more games. But
I feel OK,” Martinez said.
New team
Austin FC joins this year
after overcoming challenges
presented by the pandemic,
like pulling together a ros-
ter and staff in the Zoom era,
selling 15,000 season tickets
and building a $260 million
stadium. They were assisted
by a bit of star power: Os-
car winner Matthew McCo-
naughey is the team’s minister
of culture.
“This is a city on the rise
that marries perfectly with a
league on the rise. There’s so
much energy, there’s so much
pent up demand in that city.
You think about the fact we’re
the first professional sports
league to be in that city,” Gar-
ber said.
Charlotte joins the league
next year and St. Louis will
join in 2023.
New coaches
There are seven “new”
coaches this season. Greg
Vanney has moved from To-
ronto FC to the LA Galaxy,
where he’ll be tasked with get-
ting a talented roster led by
Chicharito on the same page.
See MLS / B4